2 Timothy 1:13-18

How can we live faithfully as Christians?  We cannot be faithful unless we faithfully and lovingly hold fast the pattern of sound words of Scripture.  And to do this we need to understand that we must be committed to this.

The command to hold fast is proper in this context.  Paul is near the end of his life and knows that Timothy will be tested.  So Paul says what others famously said before him in a similar context.  Moses, in Deut. 10:20; 11:22; 13:4 admonished the people of Israel to hold fast to the Lord.  He said this shortly before he died.  At the same point in his life, Joshua said the same (Josh. 22:5; 23:8).  He spoke both to the leaders and the congregation of Israel.  The longer we live the more we might be tempted to relinquish our hold on sound words.  We might want to be more tolerant of others and their unscriptural ideas.  But we are being told we must do just the opposite.

One of the key verses in 2 Timothy says that what Timothy had received from Paul he should commit to others who could teach others also (2:2).  Paul uses the same word in 1:14 to depict the way that he had passed on the word to Timothy.  There is a commitment involved in receiving the gospel of Christ and that is that we not change the gospel AND that we pass it on to others.  Even as God created Adam and Eve and then commanded them to fill the earth, so He has begun with Christ and then His Apostles to fill the earth with the gospel so that heaven might be filled with people of every tongue, nation and tribe.  This is the essence of Jesus’ ministry command to make disciples (Matt. 28:16-20) and His plan that it should expand from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Paul does something else for Timothy that is profitable.  Having used himself as an example, Paul wisely turns to speak of others.  And he names names.  First Paul refers to two men from Asia Minor, Phygellus and Hermogenes, who turned away from him.  In other words, they were ashamed of Paul’s chains.  Timothy needs to know that not everyone who claims to lead is fit to follow.  

On the other hand Paul also names a man, Onesiphorus, whose example is very much worth following.  He was not ashamed of Paul’s chains and he showed it openly in very practical ways.  He often refreshed Paul.  He sought Paul out zealously in Rome.  And he had done the same in Ephesus, where Timothy had been and likely had seen the ways in which this happened.  Paul prays that this man will find mercy in that Day (cf. 1:12), for we know there is a principle that those who show mercy will find mercy themselves (Matt. 5:7; Psalm 41:1; James 2:13).  And further we note that this kindness was an important means by which Onesiphorus participated in passing on the pattern of sound words.

By God’s grace and His Spirit let us maintain this same commitment!